“Live as though you will die tomorrow, learn as though you will live for ever” Gandhi

“Superfood” Diet Part II

Well as promised here’s some possible dinners and deserts based on our healthy “superfoods”.

Dinner: Salmon with mashed sweet potato and steamed asparagus. Salmon is full of omega 3 which is brilliant for your heart and skin. A 3oz portion of salmon contains 210 calories. Sweet potato has all of the goodness of normal potatoes plus more and it is lower in calories and fuller in flavour, a portion contains only 120 calories. Then to top this off, by steaming asparagus it keeps in all of its vital nutrients. Asparagus is a very good source of fiber, folate, vitamins A, C, E and K, as well as chromium. This means it helps balance your body and keep your digestion running smoothly, 100g of Asparagus is a meagre 20 calories. This brings this dinner 350 calories, you may want to add a sauce, like a hollandaise which would add another 67 calories’ for a tablespoon which brings you to 417 for the meal.

An alternative meal could be scallops with brown rice and kale. Scallops are very high in protein which is good for muscle development and recovery and a very low in calories, with a 3oz serving containing only 75 calories. Brown rice although not particularly rich in nutrients, is low on calories with only 111 calories to a serving. Cooking this rice and serving mixed with chopped kale, containing only 40 calories per 100g is a great base for a dish. Kale is a great source of vitamins and minerals, contains a lot of fibre and contains ZERO fat. To provide extra flavour I would season with Cajun spices and chopped parsley which shouldn’t add more than 20 calories at the most. This brings this meals calorie count to 246 calories.

Dessert: Baked apple stuffed with chopped walnuts, prunes and honey. As explained in last week’s article prunes and walnuts a healthy, vitamin and mineral rich foodstuffs. Apples are a great source of antioxidants. If you chop about 3 walnuts- about 78 calories, 3 prunes- around 88 calories and mix it with a tbsp of honey- 64 calories and then stuff the centre of an apple- 120 calories, then bake it you have a filling and delicious dessert. This comes in at 286 calories, depending on the size of your apple you may want to add some more walnuts or prunes.

Another idea is classic and seen as cheekily unhealthy- strawberries dipped in chocolate. I can’t say it is low in calories with this dessert coming to around 330calories but it is still less than a 360 calorie 1/6th slice of a Tesco vanilla cheesecake and doesn’t contain half of your daily saturated fats. In fact by using 50g of dark chocolate- 300 calories, you are actually eating something pretty good for you. To learn more about that check out my other post Chocolate: Brain Food or Just Wishful Thinking? . Strawberries are sweet, delicious and most of all healthy and low in calories at only 30 calories for 8. That brings us to 33o calories.

So there you have it my “superfood”, or really just simple healthy food, recipes. Using this if you ate the breakfast, half of the biscuits as snacks, the lunch, scallops for dinner and then baked apple for dessert, you will have only consumed 1310 calories. Add in some floured water and a glass of fruit juice, which could add another 150-200 calories, that brings us to 1510 for the day. Which means not only will you be eating healthily and in a filling way but you will also be losing weight as men are recommended to eat 2500 calories a day and women 2000 calories. Heck you could throw in a glass of Champagne– around 90 calories, and still be way below your daily total.